Parents Frustrated With Alabama's Tuition Plan

Parents with children in Alabama's prepaid college tuition program impatiently await an Alabama Supreme Court decision.

Credit BOC / Alabama State Treasury

Parents with children in Alabama's prepaid college tuition program are frustrated that they can't plan for the future while the Alabama Supreme Court decides how much tuition the program will pay.

Parents told the program's board chairman Wednesday that they are looking at coming up with $600 to $700 per semester if the Supreme Court allows the program to pay tuition at 2010 levels rather than current levels. They also said they are worried that the program will close down if the court requires current tuition. The board is paying the current tuition while it awaits a ruling.

Liz Jones of Andalusia has a daughter who's a sophomore at the University of Alabama. She said she doesn't know where she will get extra money to keep her in college.

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The legal battle over Alabama's financially troubled prepaid college tuition program is headed back to the Alabama Supreme Court. A Montgomery judge ruled Monday that a law passed by the Legislature in the spring to permit reduced tuition payments is constitutional. The state Supreme Court had asked Circuit Judge Johnny Hardwick to review the law before the high court considers it. If the Supreme Court agrees with Hardwick, then the Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Plan will be able to pay reduced rates rather than full tuition.

Alabama Supreme Court has asked the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to take another look at the case of death row inmate Anthony Ray Hinton, convicted of killing two people during 1985 robberies at Birmingham fast food restaurants.

The 56-year-old Hinton had questioned the qualifications of a firearms expert who testified during the trial. The Supreme Court asked the appeals court to use a different standard when reviewing the trial judge's decision that the firearms expert was qualified.